Four of the fastest-growing counties in U.S. located in Georgia

Population increasing in state

Posted: Friday, April 09, 2004

By Mark NiesseAssociated Press

ATLANTA - The Census Bureau reported Thursday that four of the 10 fastest-growing counties in America are in Atlanta's suburbs, where sprawl has created some of the worst traffic congestion in the country.

Job opportunities and affordable housing are drawing people from around the nation to the four counties, which form a semicircle around Atlanta. The populations of Forsyth, Henry, Newton and Paulding counties have each grown by about 25 percent from April 2000 to July 2003.

''It reflects the job opportunities and the quality of life in the counties,'' said Doug Bachtel, a demographer at the University of Georgia. ''You can get into some comfortable housing and not have to give your kid up for the down payment.''

The South showed some of the strongest growth compared to the rest of the country. It had 60 of the nation's 100 fastest-growing counties, followed by 20 in the West and 18 in the Midwest, according to the census.

Because Atlanta has no natural borders - coasts, mountains, major rivers - it keeps expanding in all directions for dozens of miles, making up one of the nation's most sprawling metropolitan areas.

As the Atlanta area lures more people to its warm weather and cool cost of living, sprawl becomes more of a problem, said Scott Whelchel, an associate real estate broker for Century 21 in Forsyth County. ''We're still dealing with growth pains,'' he said.

The suburbs create heavy traffic into the city, but more people move farther away to where they can get bigger homes and a better education for their children, Whelchel said.

Georgia also had a fifth county in the nation's top 10: Chattahoochee, which is mostly made up of the Army's Fort Benning. It is about 170 miles southwest of Atlanta.

The fastest-growing county in the nation is Loudoun County in northern Virginia, near Washington, D.C. It grew by about 31 percent, the census said.

''It's just a westward progression,'' said Loudoun County demographer Clark Draper. ''It's an expansion of the Washington metro area. It has made it to our county.''

While Atlanta is the prototype for business-friendly growth, it's also a poor example of urban planning, said Bryan Hager, director for the Georgia chapter of the Sierra Club.

He said it isn't the market that has people moving to the suburbs; instead, it's local laws that discourage cheap development of city residences.

No one quite knows whether Atlanta will continue growing into a megalopolis covering a large swath of Georgia, or if people have reached a point where they won't travel farther from the center, said William Mecke with the Georgia Regional Transportation Authority.

''Some of it's going outward, and there's also growth in the city,'' he said. ''Atlanta's getting bigger, and it's getting bigger everywhere.''

The census figures may be somewhat flawed because they're measured county-by-county, and Georgia's 159 counties are smaller than those found in most states, said Bart Lewis, chief of the research division at the Atlanta Regional Commission.

Eventually, commuters frustrated by hours in traffic may push residents back toward the city center, he said.

''We're seeing an intense revitalization,'' he said. ''There does appear to be some response to the fact that congestion is getting worse. There are more and more cars on the road.''